Banh xeo are light, crispy, savoury pancakes packed with pork and prawns. Best eaten wrapped in a lettuce leaf and dipped in the piquant fish sauce.
Makes 4 good-sized pancakes
Prep Time: 45 mins
Cook Time: 35 mins
Ingredients
For the Banh Xeo 1 cup of rice flour
1 cup of water
1 cup of light coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 - 2 tsp oil
2 cups of fresh bean sprouts
250g pork fillet, thinly sliced
250g prawns, peeled
6 scallions, sliced
Lettuce leaves and herbs (mint and coriander), for serving
For the dipping sauce: 100ml warm water
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1 red chili, finely diced
Method
Mix all of the dipping sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
Mix the flour, water, coconut milk, salt, turmeric and spring onion together in a large bowl and stir until smooth. Let the mixture stand while you prepare the other ingredients.
Heat a smallish non-stick frying pan or skillet over medium heat. Add the bean sprouts and cook until most of the moisture has evaporated. Drain any remaining moisture from the pan, remove the sprouts and set aside.
Increase the heat to medium high. Add the oil to the pan and cook the pork and shrimp (together is fine as long as the pork is thinly sliced) for 2-3 minutes, until it is cooked through. Add the spring onions and sauté for a few minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add ½ tsp of oil to the pan and give it a moment to heat, then pour about half a cup of the batter into the hot pan, tilting the pan so the batter coats the pan in an even layer. Distribute some of the pork and prawn filling and bean sprouts over half of the batter and wait for the edges of the pancake to turn a light golden brown.
Reduce the heat to medium and cook for another few minutes to turn the pancake crispy on the outside. Fold the mixture-free half over the filling (It will probably split on the fold, but don't let that worry you) and slide it onto a plate to serve. Continue making pancakes until all the batter and mixture is used.
Serve with crisp lettuce leaves and the dipping sauce and eat by wrapped small pieces of pancaked in lettuce and dipping in the sauce. Expect to get messy.
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